20.233 Border Enforcement Grants (BEG)
FEDERAL AGENCY
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
AUTHORIZATION
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (Public Law 109-59), 49 USC Section 31107.
OBJECTIVES
To ensure motor carriers operating commercial motor vehicles entering the United States from a foreign country are in compliance with commercial vehicle safety standards and regulations, financial responsibility regulations and registration requirements of the United States, and to ensure drivers of those vehicles are qualified and properly licensed to operate the commercial motor vehicle.
TYPE OF ASSISTANCE
Discretionary Grants
USES AND USE RESTRICTIONS
Assistance is provided to entities and States that share a land border with another country for carrying out border commercial motor vehicle safety programs and related enforcement activities and projects. Grant funds must be expended by September 30, 2011.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applicant Eligibility: Entities and States that share a land border with a foreign county. This includes the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Requests from entities must be coordinated with the State lead agency for the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP). State lead MCSAP agency information is available by contacting the FMCSA Division Office located within each state.
All applicants requesting funding for commercial motor vehicle safety inspections must use inspectors certified by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and be able to upload inspection reports to the FMCSA databases.
Beneficiary Eligibility: Individuals and businesses are not eligible to receive BEG funding.
Credentials/Documentation: Maintenance of expenditure certification by the entity or State that it meets the conditions for grant approval and the State agrees that the total expenditure of the amounts of the State and political subdivisions of the State, exclusive of amounts from the United States, for carrying out border commercial motor vehicle safety programs and related enforcement activities and projects will be maintained at a level at least equal to the average level of that expenditure by the State and political subdivisions of the State for the last 2 State or Federal fiscal years ending before October 1, 2005, whichever the State designates.
Application and Award Process: File with FMCSA Division Office an SF-424, SF-424A and SF424B form, a certification that the State meets all eligibility requirements and a State Border Enforcement Plan. The application must be filed electronically through grants.gov. Information on how to register with grants.gov and file an application using grants.gov is available at http://www.grants.gov/Apply.
Award Procedure: The amount of the award to a qualifying applicant will be based on a panel review of all applications received, recommendations of the panel, and funding availability. The panel will prioritize funding request based on the State or entity’s performance on previous BEG awards; their ability to expend the awarded funds within the BEG performance year; and, national criteria established by the FMCSA as follows:
· Ensure southern Border States are meeting all Federal requirements to allow access to Mexico-domiciled carriers beyond the border commercial zones,
· Increase the number of commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety inspections and commercial driver license(CDL)/operating authority/financial responsibility checks in Border States focusing on international traffic;
· Improve the capability to conduct CMV safety inspection at remote and other sites near the border (The list of eligible items in 49 CFR 350.311, relating to the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP), should be used as a guide.);
· Develop appropriate telecommunication systems and coordination procedures with federal inspection agencies and others (Appropriate telecommunication systems means those that relate directly to the accessing and transfer of CMV safety data and information) including telecommunications systems and other items necessary to implement the International Trade Data Systems (ITDS);
· Other innovative initiatives designed to improve the compliance status of CMVs, drivers, and carriers entering the United States from Canada or Mexico;
· Research initiatives focused on cross-border enforcement and related issues; and
· Targeted inspections of commercial motor vehicles on corridors where there is a significant amount of international traffic.
Applicants will be required to sign a grant agreement.
Deadlines: Applications for a grant must be filed with the FMCSA Division Office by September 15, 2009. If funds remain available after all applications received by September 15, 2009 have been processed, additional applications will be accepted through August 31, 2010, and considered for funding.
Range of Approval/Disapproval Time: 120 days after application deadline.
Appeals: Applicants will be notified in writing by the Division Administrator if the State or entity’s application was not approved. There is no appeal process as funding is discretionary.
Renewals: Eligible applicants must submit a new grant request to receive additional funding.
ASSISTANCE CONSIDERATIONS
Matching Requirements: The Federal share of the grant shall be 100 percent of the expenditures approved in the State or entity’s Border Enforcement Plan provided the required maintenance of expenditure amount is met.
Length and Time Phasing of Assistance: The amounts made available under the Border Enforcement Grants Program shall remain available for expenditure for the fiscal year in which they are allocated and for the next fiscal year. Amounts not expended by a State during those two fiscal years are available to the Secretary for reallocation. FY 2010 BEG funds must be expended before October 1, 2011.
POST ASSISTANCE REQUIREMENTS
Reports: A quarterly activity report is to be filed with the FMCSA Division Office. A program evaluation report is to be filed with the FMCSA Division Office upon completion of the grant program.
Audits: In accordance with the provisions of the OMB Circular No. A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organization, nonfederal entities that expend financial assistance of $500,000 or more in Federal awards will have a single or a program-specific audit conducted for that year. Nonfederal entities that expend less than $500,000 a year in Federal awards are exempt from Federal audit requirements for that year, except as noted in OMB Circular No. A-133.
Records: Records of all program activities covered in the State’s Border Enforcement Plan must be kept for 3 years after the grant is closed.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Account Identification: 69-8158-0-7-401
Obligations: FY09-$32,000,000.
PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Under the BEG program, since FY 2005, over 500,000 CMV inspections and commercial driver license, financial responsibility and operating authority checks have been conducted. Over 90 outreach sessions for Mexican motor carriers seeking authority to operate in the US have been conducted. Additionally, the four southern Border States have been provided funding to ensure the requirements to allow access to Mexico-domiciled motor vehicles beyond the commercial zone have been met.
REGULATIONS, GUIDELINES, AND LITERATURE
49 CFR 1.48; 49 CFR 350; 49 CFR 350-399; 49 CFR 100-180; 49 CFR 18. Publications available through the Government Printing Office $14-$27 per volume.
INFORMATION CONTACTS
Regional or Local Office: Local Division Offices of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) are listed on the FMCSA website “www.fmcsa.dot.gov”.
Headquarters Office: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, North American Borders Division, MC-ESB, 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE, Washington, DC, 20590. Telephone: 202-366-3771.
Web Site Address: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov
RELATED PROGRAMS
20.217, Motor Carrier Safety; 20.218 National Motor Carrier Safety
EXAMPLES OF FUNDED PROJECTS
Roadside driver and vehicle inspections at or near the US-Mexico border or US-Canada border.
CRITERIA FOR SELECTING PROPOSALS
The applicant must meet the statutory requirements contained in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Uses (Conference Report 109-203). Additionally the State or entity must submit an electronic application (SF 424, SF 424a and SF424b) through grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/Apply) including a Border Enforcement Plan consistent with the national criteria identified by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and listed above and the factors to be reviewed by the technical review panel listed below. The Border Enforcement Plan must include the scope, purpose, goals and objectives of the border enforcement program; implementation strategies including projected number of activities to be completed; performance measures; a detailed budget; an evaluation of the previous year’s border enforcement plan including a comparison of projected activities and the actual number completed to date, if applicable; a program monitoring and evaluation plan; and a sample of the quarterly report the applicant will use to submit to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Applications that are missing any of this information will be returned to the applicant for revision and must be resubmitted within 30 days to be considered during the first round of funding. Those received after 30 days will be considered during the second round of funding.
In determining the recommended awards the technical review panel will consider all of the following factors for each application:
o Amount of any previous BEG award funds remaining for current BEG applicants
o Number of reported “international” inspections for current BEG applicants for those applicants that received BEG funding the previous year.
o Current RITA/Bureau of Transportation Truck and Bus international crossing data for all reported Border States
o The legislative commitment under Section 350 of the 2002 DOT Appropriations Act to support inspection activities of foreign domiciled carriers in states along the U.S.-Mexico border.
o Any current proposed deobligations and any prior fiscal year deobligations for any BEG awards.
o Proposed locations of BEG activities versus locations of border ports of entry